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47th Congress, ) WSATE^r^^ ^-K^y ) ^^- I^o^;- 

1.9* ^Session. ] ^^WASWWJ^ i ^""o- 30. 



It 



LETTER 



FROM THE 



SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR, 

TRANSMITTING, 

/ 

In compliance with a Senate resolution of the 15th instant, a copy of the report 
of the Bev. Sheldon Jaclcson, D. B., upon the condition of education in 
Alaska. 



December 20, 1881. — Referred to the Committee on Education and Labor and ord- red 

to be printed. 



Department of the Interioe-, 

Washington, December 19, 1881. 
Sib : 111 compliance with a resolution of the Senate, passed on the loth 
instant, I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of the report of the 
JRev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., upon the condition of education in Alaska. 
Very respectfully, 

S. J. KIEKWOOD, 

Secretary. 
The President of the Senate. 



Department op the Interior, 

Bureau of Education, 
Washington, B. C, December 17, 1881. 
Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the recei^it of the following 
Senate resolution of the 15th instant: 

Resolved, That the Commissioner of Education be directed to transmit 
a copy of the report of Eev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., upon the condition 
of education in the Territory of Alaska. 

In compliance withthe above resolution, I hereby transmit the report 
named for the use of the Senate. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

JOHN EATON, 

Commissioner. 
The Hon. the Secretary of thij /nteriob. 







EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 



Department of the Interioe, 
Bureau of Education, 

Washington, April 4, 1881. 

Dear Sir : If you have any further information to communicate re- 
specting education in Alaska, I sliall be pleased to receive it for my 
forthcoming report. 

Very truly, yours, 

JOHN EATOIS^, 

Commissioner. 
Eev. Sheldon Jackson, D. D., 

Galeshiirg, III. 



Galesburg, III., December 1, 1881. 
Dear Sir: I have delayed replying to your request of April 4, that 
I might include the results of my tbird trip to Alaska. During this 
trip my views have been so strengthened concerning the great and ur- 
gent need of increased educational advantages in that section, that I 
feel a full review of the past and present situation is demanded; and 
the more so as the United States Senate, on the 2d of January, 1881, 
took the following action: 

Resolved, That the Committee on Edncatiou and Labor be instrncted to iuqnire what, 
if any, provisions have been made for the instruction of yonth in Alaska, and what, if 
any, additional measures are required for that purpose, and to report the same by bill 
or otherwise. 

education under the RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. 

Information concerning Russian schools in Alaska is very meagr 
the only available source to the English reader being the admirable 
work of William H. Dall, "Alaska and its Resources," pages 351 and 
352. The first European settlers were Russians, attracted by the valu- 
able furs and skins. Many of these married Indian women and raised 
families of mixed blood or Creoles. As these children increased and grew 
up there began to be on the part of some of the fathers a felt need for 
schools Accordingly, Gregory Shelikoft', governor of the colony and 
founder of the Russian- American Fur Company, established a school 
at Kadiak, about the year 1792, which was taught by the trader. In 
1793, Catharine II, Empress of Russia, issued a ukase ordering mission- 
aries to be sent to her North American Colony. 

In accordance with this order, the following year eleven monks sailed 
from Ochotsk for Kadiak Island, in charge of Archimandrite Joasaph, 
elder in the order of Augustin Frifio's, who were expected to take charge 
of schools as well as churches. In 1805, the imperial chamberlain and 
commissioner. Count Nikolai Resanoff, organized a school at Kadiak, 



o 

I— f 

> 




^ I— ( 




EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 6 

under the name of tlie "House of Benevolence of the Empress Maria/' 
in which were taught the Russian language, arithmetic, and the Greek 
religion. 

About the same time a school was opened at Sitka, with a very pre- 
carious existence until 1820, when it came under the charge of a naval 
officer, who kept a good school for thirteen years. In 1833 this school 
came under the direction of Btolin, who still further increased its effi- 
ciency. Etolin was a Creole, who, by the force of ability and merit, 
raised himself to the highest position in the country, that of chief di- 
rector of the Fur Company and governor of the colony. He was a Lu- 
theran, the patron of schools and churches. While governor he erected 
a Protestant church at Sitka, and presented it with a small pipe organ, 
which is still in use. 

In 1825, Yeniaminoff, who afterwards became the metropolite of Mos- 
cow, established a school for natives and Creoles at Unalashka. In 
1860 it reported 50 boys and 43 girls. This school is still in existence, 
but with a small and irregular attendance. For the use of the schools, 
Yeniaminoff prepared an alphabet and grammar in the Aleutian lan- 
guage. In 1837 a school was established for girls, children of the em- 
ployes of the Fur Company, and orphans. In 1842 it had 42 pupils, and 
22 in 1862, when disbanded. 

In 1841 a school was opened at Sitka for the training of priests. In- 
struction was given in the Russian and English languages, religion, 
arithmetic, geometry, navigation, trigonometry, geography, bookkeep- 
ing, and history. In 1859 arrangements were perfected for a general 
colonial school, which was opened in 1860 with twelve boarding pupils. 
Four of these were sons of priests and eight intended for the X)ublic serv- 
ice. A few day scholars were admitted free. After five years' school- 
ing, the students for the public service were required to serve the Fur 
Company for fifteen years at a nominal salary. When suspended in 
1862, the school contained 27 pupils, only 9 of whom were studying navi- 
gation. The annual cost of the school was |5,800. In 1843 the priest 
at ISTushergak reports a school with 12 scholars. 

On Spruce Island a Russian monk kept a school for thirty consecutive 
years for giving instruction in the rudimentary arts and agricultural 
industries. 

In 1860 a school is reported on Amlia Island, with 30 in attendance. 
All these schools have been discontinued. A school-house was erected 
on the lower Yukon, but never used. The result of these schools, espec- 
ially among the Aleuts, is thus summed up by Hon. W. S. Dodge, of 
Sitka : 

Nearly all of them read and write. Around tlieir homes, in their churches and 
schools are seen many if not all the concomitants of ordinary American homes. Many 
among them are highly educated, even in the classics. The administration of the Fur 
Company often reposed great confidence in them. One of their best physicians was au 
Aleutian ; one of their best navigators was an Aleutian ; their best traders and account- 
ants were Aleutians. 

EDUCATION SINCE THE' PURCHASE. 

In 1867 Alaska, with its inhabitants, became a part of the United 
States. The schools sustained by the Fur Company, representing the 
Russian Government, were disbanded. It was reasonable, however, to 
suppose that 30,0()0 people would be much better off and have better 
schools under American than Russian rule. It was but reasonable to 
expect that the United States, that bases its continued existence upon 



4 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

the iutelligeiice of its citizens, and glories in its common -school system, 
would replace the disbanded Russian schools with those of a higher 
grade and improved methods ; that a people who, through their State 
systems, practically furnish a free education to all, and through their 
general government appropriate thousands of dollars annually for In- 
dian education and civilization, would not neglect to extend school x)ri\i- 
leges to the natives of their latest acquired territory 5 for whatcA'er may 
have been the views held as to the expediency of the purchase, all will 
admit that, liaA ing acquired, the government is bound to care for it. 

But these reasonable and just expectations have not been realized. 
The government, with two exceptions, that will hereafter be mentioned, 
has done nothing. The schools once taught by the Russian priests liave 
one after another died, until only two remain — those of Unalashka and 
Belkovsky — and, according to the census of 1880, the average attend- 
ance at these is less than ten of both sexes. They are also irregularly 
kept. If only one or two appear at school time, the session is adjourned 
until more arrive, or even to the next day. No English is taught, and 
only the rudiments of Russian. The children of those who learned to 
read and WTite in the Russian schools, deprived of schools by the neg- 
lect of the government, are left to grow up in ignorance, until, among 
the 7,000 or 8,000 members of the Greco-Russian Church, the census re- 
ports less than 400 able to read or write in the Aleutian, Kadiak, or Rus- 
sian languages. Outside of the Aleuts and a few at Sitka, among the 
Eskimos and Indian population none can read or write except those that, 
during the past four years, have attended the schools established by the 
Presbyterian Church in Southeastern Alaska. 

For ten years after the purchase, the entire population, with the ex- 
ception of the two small Russian schools previously mentioned and two 
small ones on the Seal Islands, was left without any educational oppor- 
tunities whatever. 

In 1877 my attention was earnestly called to this state of things, and 
since that time I have secured for the board of home missions of the 
Presbyterian Church the establishment of five schools in Southeastern 
Alaska. The movement, however, commenced from without and was 
the result of mission schools among the neighboring tribes in British 
Columbia. 

FORT WRANGEL SCHOOLS. 

In the spring of 1876 nine Tsimpsheau Indians came up the coast from 
Fort Simpson, British Columbia, and took a contract for cutting w^ood 
for the military post then at Fort Wrangel, Alaska, On the Sabbath, 
as was their custom, they gathered for worship. They found a warm 
friend in Capt. S. P. Jocelyn, of the Twenty-first United States Infantry, 
who was then in command at that station. He assisted them in procur- 
ing a room for Sabbath worship and x>i'otected them from interruptions. 
He also supplied them with some small hymn-books sent to the fort by 
the American Tract Society. At the close of their contract, in the fall, 
as they were about returning to Fort Simpson, Clah, who had been the 
leader among these Indians, was persuaded to remain and open a school. 
Such was the anxiety of the people to learn, that his school was attended 
by 60 to 70 adults besides children. "These people," said a sailor "are 
crazy to learn. Going up the beach last night, I overheard an Indian 
girl spelling words of one and tw^o syllables. Upon looking into the 
house, I found that, unable to procure a school-book, she was learning 
from a scrap of newspaper that she had picked up." 

Touched by the eagerness of this people to learn, a soldier at the post 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. D 

wrote to Major-General Howard, tlien iu coimiiaud of tliat military dis- 
trict, itsking if some society coakl not l)e interested to send them a(;om- 
I>eteiit tea(5lier. Tlie lett«!r was ])lHced iu my hands in May, 1877, and 
immediately ])ul>lished in the Chicago Tribune. Soon after it was pub- 
lished in tiie leading Presbyterian newspajiers of the country, with a 
call for a tea(;her. 

To gain abetter uiulerstandiug of this movement of the natives for a 
school, I made them a visit in August, 1877. In passing through Port- 
land I found a teacher who had had large experience in mission work and 
Indian schools — Mrs. A. K. McFarland — wliom I took with me. Going 
ashore u])ou our arrival, August 10, I heard the ringing of the bell for 
the afterjioon s<;hool, and went direct to tlie school-liouse. 

Al)out twenty ])upils were in attendance, mostly young Indian women. 
Two or three b<jys were present ; also a mother and her three little child- 
ren. As the women took their seats on the rough x>lank benches each one 
bowed her head in silent prayer, seeking divine help on their studies. 
Soon a thoughtful Indian man of about twenty-five years of age came 
in and took his seat behind the rude desk. The familiar hymn, "What 
a friend we have in Jesus," was sung in English; a prayer followed in 
the Chinook jargon, which is the common language of the various tribes 
on this coast, closing with the repetition, in concert, of the Lord's Prayer 
in English. After lessons were studied and recited, the school arose, 
sung the long-meter doxology, and recited in concert the benedicti(ni. 
Then the teacher said "Good afternoon my pupils," to which came the 
kindly response, "Good afternoon, teacher." 

The school was in full operation, but under great difficulties. They 
greatly needed maps and charts; they were also in great need of a 
school-house. At the time of my visit they were renting a dance-hall 
for a school-room. Upon the return of the miners for the winter, the 
hall had to be given up, and the school was held in a dilapidated log- 
house. I found that their stock of books inventoried as follows: four 
small bibles, four hymn-books, three primers, thirteen first readers, and 
one wall-chart. 

Mrs. McFarland was at once placed in charge of the school, with Clak 
as an assistant, and Mrs. Sarah Dickinson, a Christian Tongass Indian, 
as interpreter. Early in the history of her school, Mrs. McFarland found 
a difficulty iu holding her girl jtupils. According to the customs of their 
people, they were frequently hired or sold by their own mothers to white 
traders, miners, and others for base purposes. And the brighter the girl 
the greater her danger; for, as she iujproved in the school, she began 
to dress more neatly, comb her hair, and keep her person more cleanly; 
the dull, >tolid cast of countenance gave way to the light of intelligence, 
and she began to be more attractive, and consequently in greater demand. 
To save tliese girls necessitated the establishment of a " home "into which 
they could be gathered, and thus taken out from umler the control of 
their mothers. Consequently a home was added to the school in October, 
1S7S, and kept in what was formerly the hospital building of the military 
post. 

In July, 1879, 1 made my second trij) to Alaska, in company with Pev. 
Dr. Henry Kendall, senior secretary of the Presbyterian Ijoard of Home 
Missions. We took out with us ]\liss Maggie J. i)unbar, to take charge 
of the school, while Mrs. McFarland gave her whole time to the " home," 
which has since been named the ".McFarland Home," and has now .'JO 
inmates, representing thirteen different tribes. 

The average attendance of day pui)ils during the season of bSSO-'Sl 
was ()0. This is now so largelv increased that two additional teachers 



6 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

hav3 beeu appointed. During tlie season of 1879 I provided for the 
erection of a large two-stor> building-, with basement and attic, 40 by 60 
feet, for the use of the home and school, which has since been completed 
at an expense of |7,()00. In August, 1878, Rev. S. Hall Young was sent 
out to take charge of the mission church at Fort Wrangel. In June, 
1870, Eev. AV. II. 11. Corlies and faiuily reached Wrangel as volunteer 
teachers. Mrs. Corlies at once opened a school on the beach for the 
children of the visiting Indians, of whom there are sometimes as many 
as a thousand. These come from all parts of the coast, for the purposes 
of trade. They see what is being done by the teachers and carry away 
the leaven with them. This school on the beach has exerted a very wide 
influence and created a demand tor schools among several of the tribes. 
During the long winter evenings a night school has been carried on for 
the adults by Messrs. Young and Corlies. 

SITKA SCHOOLS. 

In the winter of 1877-'78 I secnred the appointment of Rev. John G. 
Brady for Sitka, and in April, 1878, a school was opened by Mr. Brady 
and Miss Fannie E. Kellogg. In December, through a combination of 
circuiustances, it was discontinued. In the spring of 1880 Miss Oliuda 
Austin was sent out from iS"cw York City, and reopened the school April 
5, in one of the rooms of the guard-house, with 103 children ])resent. 
This number increased to l.'iO. Then some of the i)arents applied for 
admission, but could not be received, as the room would not hold any 
more. IMiss Austin received the support and substantial assistance of 
Ca|)tain Beardslee, then in command of the United States ship James- 
town, who pro\'ed himself a warm friend of the enteri)rise. In July the 
school was moved to the old hospital building. In ISTovember some of 
the boys applied to the teacher for permission to live at the school- 
house. At home there was so much drinking, talking, and carousing 
that they conld not study. The teacher said she had no accommoda- 
tions, bedding, or food lor them. But they were so much in earnest 
that they said they would provide for themselves. Upon receiving per- 
mission, seven Indian boys, thirteen and fourteen years of age, bring- 
ing a blanket each and a piece of tin for a looking-glass, voluntarily left 
their homes and took up their abode in a vacant room of one of the gov- 
ernment buildings. Thus commenced the boarding department of the 
Sitka school. Soon other boys joined them. One was a boy who had 
been taken out and shot as a witch, but was rescued by the officers of 
the Jamestown and placed in the school. Capt. Henry Glass, who suc- 
ceeded Captain Beardslee in comnnmd of the Jamestown, from the first, 
with his officers, took a deep interest in the school. As he has had 
o[>])ortunity he secured boys from distant tribes and placed them in the 
school, until there are 27 boys in tliC boarding department. 

in February, 1881, Captain Glass established a rule compelling the 
attendance of the Indian children upon the day school, which was a 
nu)ve in the right direction and has worked admirably. He first cansed 
the Indian village to be cleaned up, ditches dug around each house for 
drainage, and the house whitewashed. Tlu'se sanitary regulations have 
already greatly lessened the sickness and death-rate amoug them. He 
tlu'u caused the houses to be numbered, and an accuratt' census taken of 
the inmates, adults and children. He then caused a label to be nunle of 
tin ibr each child, wliieli was tied around the neck of the child, with his 
or her nund)er, and the number of the house on it, so that if a child was 
found on the street during school hours, the Indian policeman was un- 




EDUCATION IN ALASKA. i 

der orders to take the numbers on the labels and report them, or the 
teacher each day would report that such numbers from such houses 
were absent that day. Tlie followmg morning' the head Indian of the 
house to which the absentee belonged was summoned to appear and 
answer for the absence of the child. If the child 
was wilfully absent, the headman was fined or im- 
prisoned. A few cases of fine were sufficient. As 
soon as they found the captain in earnest, the chil- 
dren were all in school. This ran the average at- 
tendance up to 230 and 250, one day reaching, with 
adults, 271. In April Mr. Alonzo E. Austin was 
associated with his daughter in the school, and Mrs. 
Austin was appointed matron. A fidler account of 
these schools at Fort Wrangel and at Sitka, together 
with the Indian schools in British Columbia, is to 

be found in a book published by Dodd, Mead & Co., 

755 Broadway, Xew York City — "Alaska, and Mis- tms label represents boy i, 
sions on the North Pacific Coast." '^ i^«»«« ^^■ 

The Sitka school is now kept in a two-story log building that was 
formerly used as an hospital, but more latterly as a stable. 

Sitka, in the height of its glory, was the headquarters of Russian su- 
premacy in the North Pacific, the center of an extensive commerce, the 
capital of a large province, the seat of a bishopric of the Greco-Eussian 
church, with schools and seminaries. These required a large number of 
public buildings, so that at the time of the imrchase 42 buildings of vari- 
ous descriptions were turned over as public property ; a much larger 
number than will be needed again for the government service. These 
are log buildings erected seventy-five years ago, and, both on account 
of age in that damp climate and neglect, are fast going to ruin. Capt. 
J. W. White, of the United States Eevenue Marine, in Senate Ex. Doc. 
179, Forty-sixth Congress, second session, page 22, says, concerning 
them: 

I found many windows broken, locks taken from a number of the inside doors of sev- 
eral of the houses, and all the lead j)iping removed. The roofs of most of the houses 
are in a leaky condition and the property is fast going to destruction. 

N"early all the government buildings, with the exception of the hos- 
pital and two stables in its vicinity, are located near the wharf, around 
the parade ground. The hospital and two stables are nearly a quarter 
of a mile distant from the wharf and other government buildings. These 
buildings Congress will be asked to turn over for the use of the Indian 
industrial and boarding school, now occupying them. The buildings are 
not needed by the government and are no longer fit for hospital i3ur- 
poses, even if needed. They at e rotting down, and, if not attended to at 
once, will soon be beyond repairing. Further, they are asked for in har- 
mony with the government efforts at Indian education and civilization. 
The setting apart of this hospital for this school has been officially rec- 
ommended by the several collectors of customs for the Alaska district, 
and Captains Beardslee and Glass, in command of the United States 
naval forces in Alaska waters. 

RUSSIAN SCHOOL AT SITKA. 

In the fall of 1879, through a private effort made by Captain Beardslee, 
the officers of the United States ship Jamestown, and the citizens of 
Sitka, a school was opened by Alon/o E. Austin fr>r tlif wliito •'-^•1 R'^-^- 



8 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

sian children, with an average attendance of 45 to 55. When, in the 
spring of 1880, Mr. Austin went into the Indian school, he was succeeded 
by his second daughter, who left in August to teach in an Indian school 
among the lloonyahs. Miss Austin Avas succeeded by Mrs. Zechard, 
who is now in charge. 

TAKOO. 

During the summer of 1880, Ecv. and Mrs. W. H. E. Corlies carried 
on a temporary scliool among the Takoos. 

CIIILCAT. 

In tlie summer of 1880, Mrs. Sarah Dickinson, a Christian Tongass 
Indian, was sent to open a school at the store of the Northwest Tra<ling 
Company, among the Chilcats, at the head of Lynn Channel. - During the 
past summer I erected at that point a residence for the teachers and 
provided a school building, leaving Eev. E. S. Willard, of Illinois, in 
charge, with a flourishing scthool. 

IIOONYAH TRIBE. 

During the past summer I erected a school house and residence for the 
teachers in the principal village of the Hoonyahs, on Cross Sound, ahd 
left Mr. and Mrs. Walter B. Styles, of I^ew York City, in charge of the 
school. 

HYDAH TRIBE. 

At Jackson, near the southern end of Prince of Wales Island, the cliief 
presented me with a good native house, which I altered over and repaired 
so that it will answer very well for a school tliis winter. Next season 
I hope to build there also. The teacher is Mr. James E. Chapman, of 
Ohio. 

In all these schools the English language is taught. The above five 
schools in the Alexander Archii)elago, with the small Eussian schools 
at Ounalashka an<l Belkovsky, and the two schools of the Alaska Com- 
mercial Company, on the Seal Islands, ('omi)rise all the schools in Alaska, 
leaving a population of fully 20,000 without any educational advantages 
whatever. 

THE VOICE OF THE NATIVES. 

Among a few of the native tribes of the United States there is no wish 
for schools, and it is with great difhculty that the chiklren can be per- 
suaded to attend. But not so in Southeastern Alaska. Wherever a 
school has been opened it has been filled at once with children eager to 
learn. 

In 1875 the Hon. James G. Swan was appointed a special commis- 
sioner of the Department of the Interior to visit Southeastern Alaska. 
In his oflicial report to the department occur the following paragraphs: 

From Fort Sini])8on we proceeded to Fort Tongass, in Alaska, some If) miles distant 
from Sim])son. Tliis is an abandoned military post, belonging to the United States, 
and now oecn])ied by a band of 700 Tongass, nnder a chief named Ya-soot. He came 
on board and expressed a great desire to have a missionary and a teacdier. He said 
he felt ashamed when he went to Fort Simpson to see all the children learning to read 
and write, and all the Indians going to (dinndi, while the Tongass Indians had neither 
a nussionary nor teacher, and he thonght tliat " Washington" does not take as good 
care of tlie Alaska- Indians as King (Teorge (the name they give the English) does of 
the Indians at Fort Simpson. He wished me to ask "Washington" to send them a ' 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA \) 

missionary, and lie would make his people build liim a liouse, and he would compel 
all the ludiaus to send their children to school. Now, this apparent eagerness for a 
missionary is simply owing to a feeling of jealousy of the Tsimseans, who are given 
to boasting to the Alaska Indians that the English Government takes better care of 
them than the American Government does of the Alaskans. Still, a beneficial intiu- 
ence is exerted by the feeling ; for in all my experience of ever 20 years among the 
coast tribes, the great difficulty has been to get them to allow a missionary to reside 
among them. This same feeling was exhibited in every village we visited during our 
cruise. It vras the old cry, -'Come over from Macedonia and help ns." I sincerely 
believe if this matter Avas placed in the hands of the various missionary societies, and 
they could send men like Mr. Duncan and Mr. Crosby, free and untrammeled by any 
of the restrictions that now necessarily surround the Indian agents under our present 
plan, that far more good would be effected among the natives, and at far less cost, 
than by our present svstem. 

i*"* * * * * 

The Indians who reside at Wrangel are the Stickine tribe. Some of them have fi.ue 
large houses built Indian style, but with the modern improvement' of doprs and win- 
dows. I conversed wnth several of the chiefs, and they expressed an anxious desire 
for schools and missionaries. [A school has since been established.] 

The following day, June 18, we left Fort Wrangel for Sitka, and arrived in Sitka 
Harbor the next morning. 

I talked with the Indians in one of their, houses in the village, and they were very 
earnest in their entreaties that a missionary and teacher should be sent among them. 
It is very true there is a Greek chui'ch at Sitka, with a tine chime of bells, with silver 
chandeliers and candlesticks, and fine paintings, presented years ago by Catherine, 
Empress of ail the Russias, but the present priests are Aleuts, who have no influence 
among the natives. The Indians told me they wanted a "Boston" (American) mis- 
sionary, who would teach their children to read and Avrite, just as the missionary does 
at Fort Simpson. [This mission has been established.] 

The following morning we reached Koutznoo point and village, on the northeast 
side of Chatham Strait, east from Lindenburg Harbor. We found the village reg- 
ularly laid out in streets, lanes, and alleys. The houses were surrounded with garden 
patches planted in rows, well heaped up to admit of drainage. Each garden waa 
fenced in. The Indians raise most excellent potatoes at this place. 

Although most of the tribe were absent on a hunt, there were quite a number pres- 
ent, who beset me with entreaties for a missionary and a teacher, and I promised 
them, as I had done the others, that I would present their case to the Indian Bureau. 

At 12 m. we left Koutznoo and ran down Chatham Straits for Kake village, on the 
north side of Kou or Koo Island. Here we remained all night. The chief had a 
little boy with him, and expressed a strong desire that the child should go to school. 
He also asked for a teacher to be sent among them. 

On the morning of the 28th we left for Kla-Wack, which consists of an Indian vil- 
lage and trading post. As there are quite a number of children there, and as it is in 
a position easily visited by the Indians from various villages, it would be a most ex- 
cellent position for establishing a school, and Mr. Hamilton, the tradesman, assured 
me that he would do all in his power to render assistance to any teacher who should 
come among ihem. I saw some remarkably intelligent looking children, whose par- 
ents lamented that there Avas no school for them. It is not necessary to make treaties 
with the Alaska Indians or remove them to reservations. What these Indians all ask 
for is to have a teacher sent to them, one to evei-y imncipal Indian village, and ivhen there is 
such a universal desire to have their children instructed, we may look for the happiest results. 

On the morning of the 2d day of July, 1875, we left Howkan for Klemmakoan vil- 
lage, on the north side of Cordoou Bay, and arrived there at 3 p. m. The chief of 
this village is a half-breed, named Kinowen, a celebrated silversmith, from whom I 
purchased some beautiful bracelets and other jewelry of silver. 

This village is the largest, and has more carvings than any I have seen, but the In- 
dians were unwilling to part with any. 

Kinowen came on board the cutter with his wife and four children, and told me if 
the American Government would send a teacher he would let him select a place to 
suit him, and the Indians would build him a house and send the children to school. 

On the 4th of July we arrived at Fort Tongass, which is now a deserted military 
post, but the residence of about 400 Tongass Indians. The chief came on board and 
again exi)ressed the same A'iews regarding a school which he did on our first visit in 
June, and this time Captain Scammon, through an interpreter, told him that he would 
do all in his power to induce the government to attend to the matter. 

On the 6th day of July we ran into Karta Bay to the Indian village of Kazan. Here 
I purchased of a trader several beautiful specimens of bead embroidery and shawl 
work, and on the morning of the 7th we proceeded to Fort Wrangel, arriving there 
at 6.22 p. in., and remained there until the 17th. The Indians were, like all the rest, 
earnest in their entreaties for teachers and missionaries. 



10 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

From Fort Wrangel -we proceeded to Fort Tongass, whei-e we landed some stores for 
the customs otilicer, and then proceeded to Fort Simpson, British Cohimbia, where we 
arrived at 11 a. m., on Sunday morning, July 18th. AH the Indians, except some 
strangers from Alaska, had gone to church, and not wishing to disturb the congrega- 
tion, I took a walk to see the new church which Mr. Crosby was building. As I passed 
the big lodge whei'e we had the wedding feast, about a dozen Indians, men and women, 
came out, all well dressed. One of them had a book under his arm. I asked them if 
they were going to chtuch. They said no, that they belonged to Metlakatla mission, 
and had been holding service after the Episcopal form taught them by Mr. Duncan. 
The Indian with the book under his arm told me that he was the minister; and then 
opening his book he handed it to me, pointing to a ])assage. "Read that," said he ; " I 
can't read well; I wish I could." The book was the Bible, and the passage was the 
18th and 19th verses of the 4th chapter of St. Luke. "I wish I could preach better," 
said he. The test was so appropriate and the serious earnestness of the whole party, 
together with the profound stillness of the village, made a deep impression upon me. 

Just as I linished talking with this Indian minister, the congregation of Mr. Crosby's 
church came out; there were some iive or six hundred of them, all scrupulously clean 
and well dressed. It was a sight I have never witnessed before, and it spoke volumes 
to ray mind of the efficient training Mr. Crosby has given these Indians, and the won- 
derful change wrought in this tribe by Mr. Duncan, Episcopalian, at Metlakatla, and 
Mr. Crosby, at Fort Simpson. 

I partook of lunch at the fort with Mr. and Mrs. Morrison. As we sat down to the 
table, Mrs. Morrison, a native woman, asked a blessing on our repast, and when we 
had finished she returned thanks in the forms common among English people, and 
this in a simple and devout demeanor, which showed that she really felt what she 
said. 

I was so impressed with what 1 had seen that day that I could not help the thought 
that the people whom we dare to call savages can teach the so-called Christians 
lessons of humility. I left Fort Simpson with a feeling of respect for those Indians 
that I have never before felt for auy tribe I have lived with on the Northwest coast, 
and I feel conildent if missionaries and teachers are sent them by the various mission- 
ary societies of all denominations of Christians in the same untrammeled manner ac- 
corded to Messrs. Duncau and Crosby, that the Alaska tribes will not only stay at 
home and trade with our own people, but they will be morally, physically, and pe- 
cuniarily better off than they will be should our present miserable policy of Indian 
agencies be thrust upon them. 

lu the fall of 1877, a man, belonging to the Hydah tribe entered Mrs. 
McFarland's school, at Foi t Wrangel as an A B scholar. He said that 
Major-General Howard, Vincent Colyer, Major Swan, and other govern- 
ment ofiflcers that had visited them had jiromised to get the government 
to send them teachers, but no teachers had come, and now he would 
learn for himself, and then go back and teach his people. 

Hos-Kox, chief of the Hoochinoos, came to Mrs. McFarland for a 
teacher for his tribe -, laying his hand upon his heart, he said with great 
earnestness: " Me much sick heart. You come and teach all the Stick- 
eens, all Hydahs, all Tongass, about God. My people all dark heart. 
Nobody teach them" After this chief returned to his people, they had 
a drunken spree which so discouraged and mortiiied him that he com- 
mitted suicide. 

In July, 1878,- a committee of Indians from Kla-Wack made a strong- 
appeal to Mrs. McFarland for a teacher. Daring my trip in 1879 I had 
conferences with i)romiuent chiefs of the Ohilcat, Hydah, and Tongass 
tribes, all asking for teachers. And to show their sincerity, on my re- 
cent trip, Shateritch, the head chief of the Chilcats, gave me the best 
house in his village for school purposes. He has also sent one of his 
boys to the Indian training school. Forest Grove, Oregon. 

Skule-Ka, a leading chief of the Hydahs, also gave the best house in 
his village for a school, and his wife does the teacher's washing free of 
charge, saying, "he was teaching them freely, and she would wash for 
him in like manner." 

At a council hekl by Lieutenant Hanus, of the United States ship 
Jamestown, with the Cliilcats, they said that if a teaclier was sent to 
them, "they would look up to him as they do to the smi." 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 11 

TESTIMONY OF OOVEENMENT OFFICERS AND OTHERS. 

The Hon. James G. Swan, special United States commissioner, in a 
letter to the Hon. William Groiiverneur Morris, under date of October 19, 

1878, says : 

In 1875 I had the houor of being appointed as a special commissioner of the United 
States for procuring articles of Indian manufacture for the National Museum, to be 
exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and proceeded, in the United 
States revenue steamer Wolcott, to Alaska, in a cruise during the months of June and 
July of that year. 

During that cruise we stopped at many of the villages of various tribes, and when- 
ever we had any conversation with the Indians it was the universally expressed wish 
that the government would send them teachers and missionaries, as the English had 
sent to the Indians of British Columbia, and they particularly referred to the missions 
at Fort Simpson, and at Metlacatlah, British Columbia, the former under the charge 
of Rev. Mr. Crosby, of the Wesleyan Methodist Society of Ontario, Canada, and the 
latter under charge of Rev. Mr. Duncan, of the Episcopal Missionary Society of Lon- 
don, England. 

Fort Simpson, being one of the principal trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
paay, and situated bnt a few miles from the southern boundary of Alaska, is the place 
where a great many of the Alaskan tribes resort to sell their furs, and have there seen 
for themselves the superior condition of the Tsimsean Indians, both at Fort Simpson 
and Metlacatlah, and it was undoubtedly a jealous spirit, induced by the unfavorable 
comparison of their own uncivilized state, in contrast with the great improvement of 
the Tsimseans, which caused them to be so unanimous in their applications to us for 
government aid in sending teachers to them. 

In a report made by me to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs on my retiirn, which 
was also published in the Port Townsend Argus, September 3, 1877, I dwelt at length 
on this subject, and strongly recommended that our government adopt toward the 
Alaska Indians a similar policy to that so successfully enforced in British Columbia, 
at the two missions of Metlacatlah and Fort Simpson, a short account of which will 
serve to explain the method which I would suggest our government adopt in its future 
management of the Alaskan tribes. 

In October, 1857, Mr. William Duncan, a missionary, schoolmaster, and catechist, 
and graduate at Highbury Epi8coy)al Training College of the Church Missionary So- 
ciety of London, was selected to fill the post of teacher and missionary at Fort Simpson, 
and, with no other aid than the stipend paid him by the society and occasional dona- 
tions from charitable persons in England and in Victoria, he has succeeded in making 
the Indians under his charge a self-sustaining people, and their settlement is a model 
which many of our pioneer communities might emulate with profit. 

In May, 1860, Mr. Duncan, finding the locality of the post at Fort Simpson unsuited 
to his purpose, removed to his present place at Metlacatlah, some'tweuty miles south, 
where he established a town. Here, acting in turns as minister, schoolmaster, physi- 
cian, builder, arbitrator, magistrate, trader, and teacher of various mechanic arts, he 
has labored so successfully that they now own a schooner tradiug regularly to Victoria ; 
they have a joint stock trading-house, a market-house, a soap-manufactory, black- 
smith shop, saw-mill, and octagon-shaped school-house, which cost nearly $4,000; a 
building 90 feet by 30, used as court-house, for public meetings, aud to accommodate 
strangers; a mission-house 64 feet by 32, containing seven apartments on the ground 
floor, a specious dormitory above, and out-bviildiugs ; also a church, a woolen factory, 
where they weave blankets and common flannel on a machine supplied them by the 
proprietors of the Mission Mills at San Francisco ; arojje and twine factory, a tannery, 
a boot and shoe factory, and a varietj'^ of other useful things impossible for me here to 
particularize. 

The British Government recognizes Mr. Duncan's great work, and directs all its offi- 
cials in the navy and army, who may be on the coast of British Columbia, to render 
him such aid as he may need. But there his connection with his government ends. 
He has done this work with the voluntary aid and contributions of the Indians, and 
is by their help rendered independent of any outside support to carry on the mission 
work. There are no paid officials, no annuities, no treaties, and no theiving Indian 
agents, but the whole is managed just as any community of white people manage 
their town affairs. 

After Mr. Duncan left Fort Simpson, he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Crosby, of the 
Wesleyan Mission. AVhac I have written of Mr. Duncan can be said of Mr. Crosby. 
Both these gentlemen are doing a great and marked good in their respective missions, 
and the only way in which the Dominion governnient of Canada takes care of them 
is through its efficient Indian commissioner. Dr. .John W. Powell, of Victoria, who 
anuual'y visits those missions and all the coast tribes, in the Dominion steamer Sir 



12 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

James Douglas, and who is ready at all times to co-oiierate with Messrs. Duncan and 
Crosby in enforcing the laws of the Dominion relative to Indian aft'airs. 

The coast tribes of British Columbia are quite as savage as those of Alaska. They 
all have trade and intercourse with each other, and their manners and customs are 
identical, and, as the Alaskan Indians are desirous of having schools and teachers as 
the British Columbia Indians have, it seems to me to point out the true method by 
which our government can manage those natives. I am averse to all treaties and 
reservations. * * * We have all seen the great error and little good of that policy, 
but have been unable to avert or amend it. But Alaska is an exception to our Indian 
population. Separated from the States and Territories by British Columbia, her Indian 
tribes have no affinity with or knowledge of the working of our treaty system, and 
they present a fresh held of operation. ^ * * 

From my own knowledge and experience and long observation, I feel jnstitied in 
asserting that the Alaskan ludians are now just in that state in which they wouhl 
receive teachers most cordially, and would do as much as the Tsimseans have done for 
the missions at Fort Simpson and Metlacatlah. This plan is no theory of mine, nor is 
it a new thing. It is a plan which has been in successful operation in British Colum- 
l)ia for many years, and is one peculiarly adapted to the Indians of Alaska; one which 
many of them have seen in successful operation, and one which they heartily indorse, 
and wish introduced among them. On the score of economy, it is emineutlj^ superior 
to any system we now have regarding Indian management, and, as regards benefiting 
the Indians in every respect, we have only to refer to the missions I alluded to for 
proof of its excellence. But above all things, this system is to be recommended for 
its freedom from change. 

Dr. Baily, U. S. A., earnestly reeommencls schools as a curative for 
existing evils in Alaska : 

Sitka, Alaska Territory, 

October 25, 1869. 
Hon. Vincent Colter: 

My Dear Sir : I inclose for your information the report of Acting Assistant Surgeon 
John A. Tonner, U. S. A., in medical charge of the ludians in this vicinity, in con- 
formity to instructions given him by me. A copy of the same is inclosed. 

This report is instructive, and contains important suggestions, which, if carried out, 
would go far towards improving their condition. 

These ludians are. a civil and well-behaved people; thej' do not want bayonets to 
keep them in subjection, but they do want honest, faithful, and Christian workers 
among them ; those that will care for them, teach and instruct them in useful arts, and 
that they are responsible beings. I look upon the different military posts in. this de- 
partment as disastrous and destructive to their well-being; they are not, and can 
never be, of the least possible use; they are only so many whiskey fonts from whence 
it is spread over the country. If we ever have trouble with them and become in- 
volved in war, it will be found to arise from these causes. From the nature and char- 
acter of the country, posts never can render the least intluence — alford nrotection 
against contraband trade; this can only be done by armed vessels, in coinmand of 
choice men. To go into detail on all points would require pages; you have seen 
enough to satisfy yourself, and m giving you the inclosed report I only want to add 
my testimony against what I conceive to he a most grievous eri'or in the management 
of the Indian affairs in this Territory. 

When you go home, send us honest, faithful, Christian workers; not place-s^eekcvK, 
hut those who want to do good work for ChrisVs sake and kingdom. Send men and 
women, for both are wanted. 

When j'ou can do away with the evils spoken of, and which are so evident, and 
adopt this latter course, then there will be hope, and not until then. 
Sincerely, your friend, 

E. J. BAILY, 
Surgeon, U. S. J., Medical Director Depart)nent of Alaska. 

The Hon. Vincent Colyer, reporting to the Coimnission of Indian Af- 
fairs the result of his visit to the native tribes of Alaska in 1809, urges 
that the government furnish them with schools and teachers. 

Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard, who was in command of that military divis- 
ion, says : 

As the military authority is now held responsible for Indian affairs in Alaska, I 
have thought it best to make a full statement of my observations, with the hope that 
speedy legislation may be had to give to our Indians there, as well as others, already 
said to be in advance of others in point of intelligence, certainly as good opportuui- 
ties in the way of government and instrnction as those have in contiguous British 
territory. 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 13 

Charles W. Eaymond, U. S. A , captain of engineers, writes from 
Uualashka Harbor, Alaska, October G, 1869 : 

The HucLsou Bay Com])any has ever pursued an euli^hteued policy with regard to 
the encouragement of missions among the Indians with whom they trade. I cannot 
refrain from expressing the hope that, while American enterprise is so rapidly develop- 
ing this new country, American religion will not permit its people to relapse into their 
original darkness, and allow a great work so well begun to cease. 

Henry C. DeAhna, collector of customs, in a report to the honorable 
Secretary of the Treasury, November 4, 1877 (Senate Ex. Doc. No. 194, 
Forty-sixth Congress, second session, page 5, says) : 

If the department would communicate Avith the Commission of Education it might 
lead to the desired result of giving the inhabitants of Sitka those benefits all Ameri- 
cans are enjoying, viz, means of education and mental improvement. As things are 
now, Indians and Creoles are growing up like the beasts in the field. 

Commander L. A. Beardslee to the Hon. Secretary of the Navy 
Senate Ex. Doc. No. 105, Forty-sixth Congress, Second session, page 12. 

It is my judgment that we will best serve American interests by so teaching and 
cultivating this race as to win their confidence and get them to recognize us as their 
friends, whom it is their interest to serve. 

William H. Dall, esq., Smithsonian Institution, in a letter with refer- 
ence to a government for Alaska, says : 

Ten per cent, of the revenue of the United States from the Territory for the year 
preceding the current year should be applied to free schools under the Bureau of Edu- 
cation, by the Superintendent of Public Instruction, at the most populous centers, 
and the commanders of cruisers should be authorized in enlist into the Navy native 
Alaskans when they might show themselves suitable for the duties required. 

Ex-President Hayes, in his last message to Congress, December 1, 
1880, says: 

The problem is to supply the Territory for a population so scattered and so peculiar 
in its origin and condition. The natives are reported to be tractable and self-support- 
ing, and if properly instructed doubtless Avould advance rapidly in civilization, and a 
new factor of prosperity would be added to the national life. I therefore recommend 
the requisite legislation upon this subject. 

President Arthur, December 6, 1881, says, in his message to Congress 

I regret to state that the people of Alaska have reason to complain that they are as 
yet unprovided with any form of goA^ernment by which life or pro^jerty can be pro- 
tected. While the extent of its population does not justify the application of the 
costly machinery of Territorial administration, there is immediate necessity for con- 
stituting such a form of gOA^erument as will promote the education of the people and 
secure the administration of justice. 

GOVERNMENT ACTION. 

Russia transferred to the United States (see Diplomatic Correspond 
ence, 1807, Part 1, pages 404 and 405) "dock-yards, barracks, hospitals 
and schools.^^ Also in the inventory of property turned over occurs 
^' school-building of timber, with its appurtenances," at Sitka ; "a timber 
building for school," at Kadiak. 

In 1870, Congress, by an act approved July 1, leased the Seal Islands 
to the Alaska Commercial Company for a period of twenty years. In 
section 6 of said Act occur these words : 

And the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby empowered and authorized to make al 
needful rules and regulations for the collection and payment of the same, for the com 
fort, maintenance, education, and protection of the natives of said islands. 

In the regulations of the company for the guidance of their employes 
section 15 reads : 

Free schools will be maintained by the company eight months in each year, four 
hours per day, Strndays and holidays excepted, and agents and teachers will endeavor 
to secure the attendance of all. The company will furnish the necessary books, station- 
ery, arwl other appliances for the use of the schools without cost to the people. 



14 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

In 1869, tlie Board of Indian Commissioners, page 109 of their report, 
urged that an appropriation of $100,000 be made to provide schools of 
instruction in the primary branches of the English language, t&c. 

Again, in report of Board of Indian Commissioners for 1870, page 145, 
renewing the request for $100,000 : 

This report has the approval of the board, and is now officially presented to you 
with the earnest prayer that it may meet with the favorable consideration of the Com- 
mittee on Indian Affairs, and be by you submitted to the Senate for adoption. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

VINCENT COLYER. 
Hon. J. D. Cox, 

Secretary of the Interior, 

Department of the Interior, 

Washmgion, D. C, April 22, 1870. 
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith for your information a letter dated the 
21st instant from Vincent Colyer, esq., secretary of the Board of Indian Commission- 
ers, together Avith the report therein referred to in relation to the condition of the In- 
dian tribes in Alaska, which Territory has not yet been organized in connection with 
the Indian service. I take great pleasure in communicating the report of the com- 
missioners, and concur in their recomnaendation that the sum of $100,000 be appropri- 
ated for the benefit of the Indians in Alaska, to be expended for the objects named in 
the letter of Mr. Colyer. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

J. D. COX, 

Secretary. 
Hon. James Harlan, 

Chairman Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate. 

Board of Indian Commissioners, 

Pittsiurgh, February 14, 1872. 
Dear Sir : I have the honor to transmit for your information a copj^ of a resolution 
adopted by the Board of Indian Commissioners at the meeting in Washington on the 
13th ultimo, on the subject of Indians in Alaska ; also, a letter addressed to you by 
Hon. Lot M. Morrill, late chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, show- 
ing that it was the intention of Congress that a portion o^ the fund alluded to in the 
resolution of the board should be used for the purpose indicated among the Indians of 
Alaska. 

The letter from Senator Morrill was procured agreeably to your suggestion, made 
some time ago to Mr. Colyer, that such a communication would be desirable, and the 
transmission of the resolution of the board has been delayed until it could be pro- 
cured. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, &c., 

FELIX R. BRIJNOT, 

Chairman. 
Hon. C. Delano, 

Secretary of the Interior, Washington, D. ,C. 

"Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested to place the Indians of 
Alaska under the care of the Department of the Interior, with a view to the early com- 
mencement of measures for their education and advancement in civilization ; and that 
the board respectfully recommend that the sum estimated by the late Commissioner of 
Indian Affairs, and recommended by the late Secretary of the Interior, of the appropri- 
ation for educating Indians not otherwise provided for, be devoted to that purpose.'' 

United States Senate Chamber, 

Washington, February 10, 1872. 
Sir: The bill making appropriation for the Indian Department, &c., for 1870-71, 
was amended in the Senate by adding a proviso for the support of industrial and 
other schools among the Indian tribes not otherwise provided for, to be expended un- 
der the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, $100,000. 

The Indian peace commission had recommended a specific appropriation for the In- 
dians in Alaska, as also had the Secretary of the Interior. The committee preferred 
to make the appropriation general, leaving it to the Secretary to apply such part to 
Alaska Indians as in his discretion he might think best. 
Very respectfully, yours, 

L. M. MORRILL. 
Hon. C. Delano, 

Secretary of the Interior. 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 15 

Department of the Interior, 

Washinf/ton, D. C, March 16, 1872. 

Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith, first, copy of a letter from the Commis- 
sioner of Indian Affairs to this department, dated March 14, 18T2; secondly, copy of a 
communication addressed to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by William Borrows, 
late of the United States Army; thirdly, copy of a letter addressed to this department 
by Felix E. Brunot, chairman of the board of peace commissioners, dated February 
14, 1872; fourthly, copy of a letter from Hon. L. M. Morrill, addressed to this depart- 
ment on the 10th of February, 1872. 

These papers each refer to the condition of the inhabitants of Alaska who resided 
there prior to, and at the date of, our acquisition of that territory. The communi- 
cation of Mr. Borrows gives some interesting and valuable information in reference to 
the numbers, character, habits, and general requirements of these people. 

The letter of Commissioner Walker, referring to this subject, suggests doubts as to 
whether the native inhabitants of Alaska should be administratively recognized as 
Indians, within the intention of the laws organizing the Indian Office, prior to some 
positive legislation bringing them within the recognized jurisdiction of the Office of 
Indian Affairs. 

The letter of Mr. Brunot expresses a desire that the inhabitants of Alaska be x^laced 
under the care of the Department of the Interior, and that a portion of past appropri- 
ations, placed at the general discretion of the Secretary of the Interior to benefit the 
Indian tribes, be expended in providing for the education of these inhabitants. 

I have given this subject such consideration as the pressure of public duty has per- 
mitted. It is undoubtedly, a duty which the Government of the United States cannot 
ignore to provide for the welfare and civilization of the inhabitants of Alaska. It is 
not material to this question that this people should have descended from the same 
ancestry, and be of the same race, as the Indians of North America noAv under the 
guardianship of this government. Though fully recognizing this duty, I cannot, as 
an executive officer, undertake, in the course of administration, to expend the funds 
of the nation in its discharge without clear warrant of law. I am, therefore, compelled 
to recur to some of the circumstances connected with this question which influence 
my mind in arriving at the conclusion which I shall present in this communication. 

In the first place, let it be remembered that Congress has not yet provided any Terri- 
torial government for Alaska. In the second place, it must be borne in mind that, 
prior to the acquisition of Alaska, we had a well-defined and distinctly-organized sys- 
tem of Indian service, embracing all the Indians of the United States and applicable 
to such persons only. In the third place, it must be remembered that it is exceedingly 
doubtful whether the inhabitants of Alaska, so far at least as they inhabit the islands, 
belong to the same race or family of men as the Indians of North America. It may, 
therefore, be well doubted whether, in view of these considerations, appropriations 
made for the general service of the Indian Office, as known and recognized prior to 
the acquisition of Alaska, can, with propriety, without distinct and definite legislation 
authorizing it to be done, be expended in providing for the wants and subsistence of 
the people of Alaska. That it is the duty of the governmeut to bring this semi-barba- 
ro\is and uncivilized people under the influence of the beneficial provisions made for 
the Indian tribes now under the jurisdiction of the Indian Office I have no doubt, 
and I therefore take great pleasure in laying before Congress the information which 
is contained in the several papers herein referred to. . 

I have expressed the views contained in this communication for the purpose of in- 
viting the attention of Congress to this subject, in order that such legislation may be 
introduced and perfected as will lead to the performance of the duty which the gov- 
ernment owes to the inhabitants of Alaska, without having such result accomplished 
by what would be at least a very doubtful, if not a clearly erroneous, interpretation 
of existing laws. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

C. DELANO, 

Seci'etary. 

The Hon. the Speaker of tlie House of Representatives. 

Department of the Interior, Office of Indian Affairs, 

Washington, D. C, March 14, 1872. 
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt, by i-efereuce from the department of 
the 19th ultimo, of a coiumunicatiou from Hon. Felix E. Brunot, chairruau Board of 
Indian Commissioners, accompanied with a resolution adopted by that board on the 
13th of January last, and a letter from Senator Morrill on the subject of Indian affairs 
in Alaska. 

By this resolution it is proposed that the Indian tribes be placed under the care of 
the Department of the Interior, and that the sum of $45,000 of the appropriation "For 



16 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

the support of sclaools not otherwise provided for" he devoted to the education and 
civilization of said Indians. 

Tlie Hon. L. M. Morrill states that the Indian coraunssion, as well as the Secretary 
of the Interior, had recounaended that a special amount he appropriated for the civili- 
zation of the Indians of Alaska, hut tbat the Committee on Appropriations preferred 
to make the appropriation for support of schools, &c., general, leaving it to the Secre- 
tai-y to apply .such part thereof to Alaska Indians as iu his discretion should be deemed 
advisable. 

Mr. Brnnot's letter having been referred to this office for its views on the subject 
embraced therein, I am constrained to say, without disparaging the importance of 
early efforts for advancing in civilization the natives of Alaska, I cannot recommend 
the application to that purpose of any of the money appropriated by the act of July 
15, 1870, for the support of manual-labor and other schools among the Indian tribes at 
present under the control of the department. My reasons for withholdingsnch rec- 
ommend..tion are threefold: 

1. It appears to me that the provisions of the act of July 15, 1870, iu the respect 
mentioned, must be held to apply only to Indian tribes within the territory of the 
United States, exclusive of Alaska, and that the department would not be justified in 
extending its agencies over a people numbering fifty or sixty thousand by authority 
of anything contained iu that act. Even were the right to do so unquestioned, I 
should not regard it as judicious to commit the department to a work involving the 
necessity of continued appropriations, and upon an increasing scale, without some 
distinct expression of intention and purpose of the law-making power. 

2. The departmeut has, upon the recommendation of this office, requested such a 
modification of the act of July 15, 1870, as will allo\r the balance of |93,717.91 to be 
applied under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior at such times, in such 
sums, and for such tribes and bands as in his opinion may be required in promoting 
education among the Indians. 

If the bill which has been introduced into Congress in accordance with this recom- 
mendation should become a law, I am entirely satisfied that the balance of the appro- 
priation remaining could be applied with much larger results of good to tribes nearer 
at hand, and with which the government has long sustained relations. 

3. I suggest with diffidence whether it is on the whole desirable that, in advance 
of legislation for the organization of Alaska as a Territory of the United States, the 
natives of that region should be administratively recognized as Indians within the in- 
tention of the laws organizing the Indian Office. 

The efi:brts and expenditures proposed in the communication of Mr. Brunot could 
hardly be expected to yield any considerable result of a positive character within the 
time which will probably precede the organizatiou of some form of government for 
this district. But the eftects of such administrative treatment might be most unfor- 
tunate, inasmuch as, if regarded as Indians, these natives must be held to be subject 
to a constitutional disqualification for citizenship. For myself I have never believed 
that the natives of Alaska were Indians within the meaning of the Constitution, any 
more than are Esquimaux or Kanakas, and I am disposed to avoid entirely the use of 
the word Indians as applied to them. The balance of probabilities seems to me to in- 
cline toward an Asiatic origin, at least so far as the inhabitants of the coast and of the 
islands are concerned. The inference from their geographical position, strong as it 
may be, is hardly so strong as the inference from their singular mimetic gifts and the 
high degree of mechanical dexterity which they are capable of attaining. These are 
qualities characteristic of the Oriental, and they are precisely the qualities in which 
the North American Indian is most deficient. But without attempting to establish 
their connection with the Chinese or Japanese, or to trace their descent from the lost 
tribes, it is sufficient for the purposes of this report if it be shown that the department 
is not concluded by any irresistible sequence to treat the natives of Alaska as Indians 
within the intention of the law organizing the Indian Office. That it is undesirable 
to do so appears to me plain. The provision of the Constitiition excluding Indians 
from the political body is so far invidious and opposed to the general spirit of that 
instrument, and more especially to the spirit of the recent amendments thereto, that 
it should be construed strictly, not extending unnecessarily to races of a questionable 
ethnical type and occupying a position practically distinct and apart from the range 
of the undoubted Indian tribes of the continent. * * • * * 

Very respectfully, vour obedient servant, 

F. A. WALKER, 

Commissionei'. 

Hon. C. Delano, 

Secretary of the Interior. 

Board of Indian Commissioners, 

Pitisiurgh, April 4, 1872. 

Dear Sir: Some time in February, by direction of the board of Indian Commis- 
eioners, I addressed a note to the honorable Secretary of the Interior, inclosing a reso- 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 17 

lution of the board, recommending that i)art of an existing approiiriation for the 
edncation of Indiana should be devoted to the establishment of schools for the natives 
of Alaska. 

i' The Secretary of the Interior has not communicated further with the board on the 
subject, but I learn from a printed letter addressed to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives, which reached me a few days ago, that both Secretary Delano and 
The. Commissioner of Indian Affairs have some objections to the propositions of the 
board. I was glad to find from the letter that both the Secretary of the Interior and 
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs appreciate the duty and obligations of the govern- 
meut to the inhabitants of Alaska, and the imjjortance of early legislation on the sub- 
ject. There are but few, I think, who will deny that it is the duty of the government 
tif care for this people ; but, in view of the difficulties which surround the whole sub- 
ject of our relations to the aboriginals, and the reluctance to increase expenditures, 
some may desire to postpone the necessary legislation. 

Our board believes that in view of the process of demoralization now going on in 
Alaska, early counteracting measures are imperatively called for, and are in the inter- 
est of true economy. The longer a commencement of the woi-k is postponed, the greater 
will be the obstacles to success and the more costly the work to be accomplished. 

In the hope that yourself and your committee may have the like opinions, I venture 
to submit the inclosed draught of a bill embodying what seems to be the best plan for 
adoption vmder the circumstances. There is no doubt that many of the natives of 
Alaska are superior to the average of the American Indians. On the coast and islands 
they live in wooden houses (some with glass windows), having doors and interior 
arrangements like the cabins of ships. General Jeff. C. Davis describes the Aleutes 
(War Department Report, 1870, page 60) as an "honest, peaceful race of people, very 
nearly approaching a state of semi-civilization, which they had already ac(][uired under 
great disadvantages." The Koloshians are said to be quick, shrewd, and willing to 
learn. 

F. K. Louthan, who was three years in Alaska, says of the Sitkas : "Their village con- 
sists of fifty-six houses, well built. * *,^ They are industrious and. ingenious, and able 
to imitate admirably almost anything placed before them." Of the Koloshians he says : 
" They are quite as intelligent and easy of culture, needing only the same system of 
edncation as the Hydas to, in a very short time, fully utilize them for every purpose of 
government and usefulness." Among the Hydas and Chemseans he saj's " can be found 
men and women of high culture and refinement, fit to adorn almost any position in 
life." The Aleutes, numbering from 4,000 to 5,000, are nearly all professing Christians 
of the Greek Church. 

Hon. William S. Dodge, ex-mayor of Sitka (in report of Board of Indian Commis- 
sioners, 1869 page 38), says of the Aleutes: "Manyof them are highly educated." * * * 
The administrator of the fur company often reposed great confidence in them. One of 
their best navigators was Aleutian ; their best traders and accountants were Aleu- 
tians." 

It cannot be that a race of people capable of such elevation as this shall be left to 
date their downward progress in demoralization, .ending in final extinction, to the 
transfer of their country to the United States, and surely the American people will 
sustain Congress in any reasonable effort to prevent so- disgraceful a result. Major- 
General Halleck, in a report to the War Department in 1869, estimated the number of 
Indians in Alaska at 70,000, but Mr. William H. Dall, in his work on Alaska, states the 
number at 27,664, including 1,421 Creoles or mixed-bloods. 

The tribes inhabiting the coast and islands seem to be more susceptible of education 
and more anxious for civilization than the interior tribes, and for this reason the 
words "coast and islands" are used in the proposed bill. 

Permit me to refer you to the report of the Board of Indian Commissioners for 1869, 
where you will find much valuable information on the subject, which was collected by 
Mr. Colyer, who visited that country under the auspices of the board. In connection 
with the propo.sition to place the natives of Alaska in charge of the Bureau of Edu- 
cation, I also ask your attention to the report of the Commissioner of Education for 
1870, pages 23, 25, 236, 339, 345. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

FELIX K. BRUNOT, 
Chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners. 

Hon. J. P. C. Shanks, M. C, 

Chairman of Comniitlee on Indian Affairs. 

P. S. — I send you with this a cameo ring, made by an Alaska Indian, as an examjde 
of their expertness in carving. Tliey make many such things, and this one, which 
seems to have been imitated from English or American work, is probably quite equal 
to similar work among us. 

A BILL to establish schools among the natives of Alaska. 

Whereas, by the purchase of Alaska, the Government of the United States has be- 
come responsible for the proper care and government of the native inhabitants of that 

iS. Ex. 30 2 



18 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

country, many of whom are rejiorted to be docile, peaceful, partially civilized, apt in 
meclianical arts, and anxious for instruction ; 

And whereas it is believed to be sound i)olicy, as well as the duty of the goveru- 
ment, to adopt prompt measures for their education and Christianization, with a view 
to their admissiou to the rights of citizenship : Therefore, 

Be it enacted by the Senate and Souse of Bepresefitatires of the Cfnited States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the native iuhabitants and Creoles or mixed-bloods resident 
upon the coast and islands of Alaska be, and are hereby, placed under the management 
and control of the Department of the Interior, so far as may be necessary for the 
ediicational purposes contemplated by this act. 

Sec. 2. That the Commissioner of Education shall be charged with the duty of 
establishing, under competent Christian teachers, manual-labor or other schools for 
the instruction of said native inhabitants in the English language, the common 
branches of English education, the principles of republican government, and such in- 
dustrial pursuits as may eeem best adapted to their circumstances. 

Sec. 3. That the sum of fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be found 
necessary, be, and the same is hereby, appropriated to carry out the purposes of this 
act. 

Tlie Board of Indian Commissioners was composed of Felix E,. Brunot, 
Pittsburgh 5 Robert Campbell, Saint Louis; Nathan Bishop, New York j 
William E. Dodge, New York; John V. Farwell, Chicago; George 
H. Stuart, Philadelphia; Edward S. Tobey, Boston; John D. Lang^ 
Maine; a body of men honored and respected for their good judg- 
ment and other sterling qualities by the whole nation. For years these 
men pleadedfor some action by which the native races of Alaska might 
be educated into American citizenship. In their annual report for 
1872, page 18, referring to the failure to secure the benefit of an appro- 
priation of $50,000 that was made for educational purjioses in Alaska^ 
they say : 

It was understood by the board that fche act of Congress July 15, 1870, appropriating 
$100,000 for the support of "schools among the Indian tribes not otherwise provided 
for" included the sum of .|50,000 which had been asked for education in Alaska. 

The Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner of Indian affairs did not feel au- 
thorized to apply any portion of the appropriation to Alaska for reasons given in a 
communication to the Hon. Speaker of the House of Representatives dated March 16, 
1872. * * * ^ The reluctance felt on all sides to extend the operations of the 
Indian Bureau to Alaska, and the belief that the Aleutes and possibly other natives 
of that country are not Indians, is shared by the board ; and to avoid the difficulty, 
an effort was made made, through the Committee on Indian Affairs in the House of 
Representatives, to procure au appropriation for educational piirposes alone and place 
the educational interests of ^the native inhabitants of Alaska under the care of the 
United States Commissioner of Education. It is earnestly hoped that prompt and ef- 
iicacions measures may be adopted to stop the process of demoralization which com- 
menced among the Alaskians with the transfer of their country to the United States. 

With this all public action with reference to education seems to have 
ceased, and nothing further was done until 1877. In that year I A'isited 
Alaska and established the school at Fort Wraugel. Upon my return 
to New York the secretaries of the Mission Board addressed the follow- 
ing letter to the Hon. Secretary of the Interior : 

Board op Home Missions, 
Presbyterian Mission House, 
No. 23 Centre Street, New York, December 10, 1877. 
Hon. and Dear Sir: Last June a petition was sent us from Fort Wrangel, Alaska, 
pleading for a school and teachers. The plea was so urgent that Dr. Sheldon Jack- 
eon, superintendent of our mission and educational work in the Territories, visited 
Alaska. He found no schools in all that section, except the form of one at Wrangel, 
taught by an uneducated native from Bi-itish Columbia. So great was the desire to 
learn to read and speak the English language, that even such a school averaged over 
50 pupils during last winter, principally adults. Dr. Jackson at once organized a good 
echool and left an efficient teacher in charge. Since then we have had applications from 
various sections of Alaska for similar schools. We are willing to do this and co-oper- 
|te with your department in building up at the several central points of population 
Industrial schools, where, in addition to the rudiments of an English education, the 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 19 

men shall be taught the carpenter and other industrial pursuits, and the women sew- 
ing, cooking, housekeeping, nursing, &.e. To give efficiency to this wise and hu- 
mane policy of the government it would be wise to ask an appropriation of $ ,t<? 

be disbursed under the direction of tlie Hon. Commissioner of the Bureau of Educa 
tion, Department of the Interior. 
Verv truly, yours, 

" " HENKY KENDALL, 

CYRUS DICKSON, 

Secretaries. 

Eeport of tlie Hou. Commissioner of Indian Affairs for 1877, pages 
26 and 27 : 

The Indians of Alaska, numbering over 20,000, being within the jurisdiction of the 
United States, have at least a moral claim upon the government for assistance in the 
way of civilization. * * * Under the policy of letting these tribes alone, Indians 
who are as yet without the influ.ence of either the virtues or vices of civilization will 
gradually become victims to the practice of whisky-drinking and other deteriorating 
influences ; those whose contact with whites has already resulted in demoralization 
will become still more degraded ; and those who under Russian rule and influence 
became partially civilized will, by the withdrawal of the restraints and protection of 
Russian law, and the failure to substitute the authority of the United States Gov- 
ernment, relapse into barbarism. 

The fact that these tribes are not dependent on the government for subsistence, and 
are not occupying lands which United States citizens covet, should not serve as an 
argument for leaving them without law, order, or civilizing influences. Unless it is 
the intention of the government to abandon Alaska altogether, some plan for bring- 
ing these Indians under civilizing control of the government should be adopted at an 
■early day, especially for furnishing them educational facilities. I would recommend 
the appointment of a special agent, whose duty it shall be to ascertain their condi- 
tion and wants and make report thereon, to be the basis of future action. 
I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. A. HAYT, 

Commissioner. 

Hon. Secketary of the Interior. 

And again in the annual report of tlie Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
for 1880, page vii : 

The attention of Congress has been repeatedly called to the necessity of making 
some provision for the education of the Alaska Indians, but thus far no action has 

been taken on the matter. * * * A comparatiA'-ely small expenditure in that direc- 
tion could, in this slow but sure way, be made of incalculable ultimate benefit to the 

Alaska Indians. 

At the ninth annual conference (January, 1880), page 90 of annual 
report, 1879 : 

Resolved, That this convention earnestly request the honorable Secretary of the In- 
terior to make an appropriation for educational purposes in Alaska, that they may 
share with oth«r Indians in educational privileges. 

On the 15th of October, 1879, the following letter was addressed to 
the honorable Secretary of the Interior, in reply to his request for a 
report of the situation : 

Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Ciu'rch, 

Mission House, 23 Centre Street, 

Neiv York, October 15, 1879. 
Dear Sir : Having returned from a special visit to the native tribes in Southeastern 
Alaska, we take pleasure in complying with your request of last winter that we 
should send you some report of our impressions. We visited Sitka, Fort Wraugel, 
the coast along Prince Frederick Soimd, and up the Stickeen River, also Tongass and 
the British schools at Fort Simpson and Metlakatla. We also saw representatives of 
several other tribes visiting at Fort Wraugel. We were agreeably surprised at the 
progress those people have made in civilization as compared with the Indians of Colo- 
rado, Wyoming, and Dakota. We found them industrious and easily governed. We 
found thom serving as deck hands, pilots, and cooks on the small river steamers that 
ply on the Stickeen. They manifested an eagerness to learn and improve their con- 
dition in life that is very commendable and ought to be encouraged. 



20 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

From Dixou's Inlet on the south for 300 to 400 miles along tlie coaist to tlio liead of 
Lynn Channel the several tribes, with bnt one (^xception, speak a common tongue, the 
Thlinket, which will be of great advantage in any effort to establish schools. The 
exception 8])okeu of is the Hydah tribe, that luive a language of their own. The Toti- 
gass and llydali, in tbe south, number about 1,200; the 8tickeena, about 1,000; the 
Kakcs and Rous, about WW; tbe Awks, (540; tlie Takoos, 500or()00; Chilcats, 1,000; 
Hootchcuoos, ()()(); 1 loonyiih.s, iibout l,0O(t; Sitkiaus, 721, with scattered ones making 
about 7,000 s])eakiug tbe Tliliukct tongue. We have :i.lreii<ly established s(!hools at 
Fort Wiaugcl and Hilka and ar(> arranging to establish scdiools among the Chilcats and 
Ilydiihs. I'hcse schools could be greatly enlarged and extended if the government 
would aid iu the same way that it is doing among the Indian schools of the Territ(tries. 
The few thousnnd dollars judiciously s])ent now in giving that ])cople an elementary 
educati(m ami instructi<ui iu the industries will save hundreds of thousands of dollars 
in future wjirs. \^'e found a very strong desire among the natives we met for the estab- 
lishment of sc-bools anu)ng their several tribes. 

Knowing your great /cal to elevate the masses and free the oppressed and lift our 
connnon humanity to a higher plane of intelligence and comfort, we confidently look 
to you to take such action as in your judgment will secure Congressional aid in the 
school work anmug the native races of Alaska.. 
Very respectfully, yours, 

HENRY KENDALL. 
SPIELDON JACKSON. 

Hon. Caiu. Sciiukz, 

Secretavji of llic Jiifcrior. 

DkPAHTMENT ok TlIK IXTKlJIOli, Ol'KICE OF THE SeCHETAKY, 

Washington, December 1, 187t'. 
UiOAU SiKS: I received your letter concerning the success of your mission in Alaska. 
I am very miu'h obliged to you for the information you give me and glad to learn 
that you have been able to do so much good. 

This department would with ])leasure extend a helping hand to your endeavors for 
the education of tlie Imlians there, had it any funds at its disposal or any authority at 
law for doing so. Hut both these indispcMisable things are wanting. It might per- 
haps be proper that you sliould apply to Congress in the way of petitiou for an a])pro- 
priation in aid of the efforts to educate the Alaska Indians. 
Very truly, yours, 

C. SCHURZ. 
II. Kendall, Esij., 
SiiELUON Jackson, Es((. 

Acting- upon the suggestiou of tlie honorable Secretary, a meeting was 
called ill New York City of tlie friends of edncation iu Alaska, to confer 
and agree on some line of action to se(;nre the co-operation of the 
general government. This meeting was held in January, 1880, and 
resulted in the i)resentatiou to Congress of the following pa])er: 

A memorial lo the hononxhle Senate and Honxe of JieprenentaHven of the United Statea of 
America in Conyrensaxnemhled. 

Whereas the United States is respousible for the proper care and government of 
Alaskai, the native inhabitants of which and Creoles of mixed blood are docile, peace- 
ful, partially civilized, apt in the mechanical arts, and anxious for instruction; 

And whereas it is believe<I to be the wise i)olicy as well as duty of the governnu^nt 
to adopt ]»rompt measures for their education with a view to their adunssion to the 
rights of citizenship ; 

And whereas it is both cheaper and more humane to give them educational facilities 
now than to light them hereafter at a largely increased cost; 

And whereas they are a self-supporting peo])le, nee<ling no annuities, clothing, or 
rations from the government, but do need teachers, which they cannot procure for 
themselves ; 

And whereas the government receives an annual revenue from Alaska, of |317,r>00, 
and only returns to that country in the form of salaries of United States officers, pay 
of monthly uuxil steamer, support of steam revenue-cutter, &.c., the sum of about 
105,000, leaving a net revenue of over $250,000: 

Tlun-efore we, the undersigned, citizens of the Ihiited States, do hereby memorialize 
your honorable body to appropriate from the revenue of Alaska in the Treasury the 
sum of $50,000, or so nnicli thereof as may b(^ necessary to be expended by the Com- 
missioner of Education, under the direction of the honorable Secretary of the Interior, 
for the establishment under competent teachers of schools for the instruction of the 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 21 

jiativc po]»nlation and Creoles of Alaska in the English language, the common hranches 
of an English education, the i)rinciples of a republican government, and such indus- 
trial pui'saits as may seem best adapted to their circumstances. 
With great respect, yours, truly, 

SHELDON .JACKSON, 
SupcrintendeHt of Fresh yierian Schools in the Territories. 
JNO. LANAHAN, 
Pastor Foundry Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Wasiiix<;tox, D. C, February 2, 18H0. 

The Hon. James A. Garfield presented the memorial in the House of 
Representatives and moved its reference to the Committee on Appro- 
l)riations. 

On the 2d of February, 1880, Hon. Senator Dawes presented it to the 
S ate, saying : 

I present a jx'tition signed by Rev. Sheldon Jackson, superintendent of the Presby- 
terian schools in the Territories, and Rev. .John Lanahan, pastor of the Foundry Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, in Washington City, in which they represent to Congress that 
the Territory of Alaska, when purchased by the United States, had a system of educa- 
tion maintained l)y the Russian Government ; that upon our taking control of that 
Territory the whole system expired, and the entire Territory has been left without any 
means of education ; that tin; present generation is growing up in ignorance and re- 
lapsing into barbarism ; that the United States is receiving into its Treasury from the 
Territory every year |317,i300, more than 4 per cent, interest uj)on the original pur- 
chase; that it pays back for the benefit of the Territory only $6.5,000 of this sum, and 
they pray that out of the $250,(100 net revenue received into the Treasury every year 
from Alaska, .$50,000 of it may be aj^propriated for some system of education to those 
people whom we have oldigated ourselves to Russia to provide for in the treaty of i^ur- 
chase. I move that the petition be referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and 
I connnend it to their careful consideration. 

The inotion was agreed to. 

On the 5th of February the memorial was reported back to the Sen- 
ate by the chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, with the re- 
quest that it should be referred to the Committee on Education and 
Labor, which was done. 

At the request of the Hon, James E. Bailey, chairman of the Senate 
Committee on Education and Labor, the following memorandum was sub- 
mitted': 

Washington, D. C, March 15, 1880. 

Hon. and Dear Sip. : Almost constant traveling since I met you in the committee- 
room has prevented an earlier coiipliance with your request that I should write out 
a memorandiun of the lirincipal points with reference to the petition for an appropria- 
tion for educational facilities for Alaska. The memorial itself embodies some of the 
reasons why the government should grant this petition and why it is proper and just 
that you should rejjort a bill to that effect. Also see the remarks of Senator Dawes on 
the i)resentation of the memorial, 'i'he presentation of Senator Dawes and the memo- 
rial pn^sent their own reasons why Congress should make the appropriation. 

In addition permit me to say that Congress, with the wannest approval of the best 
portion of American citizens, has for years pa.st recognized its duty to provide educa- 
tion for Indian youths, but up to this time has never recognized its duty to the native 
inhabitants of Alaska. 

This memorial asks that they be granted the same privileges as the native tribes of 
Dakota, Montana, or other Territories, with this difference : The ajipropriations for 
schools among the Dakota, Montana, and other Indians are administered through the 
Indian IJureau. 

In the case of the Alaska natives it is proposed to administer through the Educa- 
tional Bureau of the Department of the Interior, for the following reasons : 

Ist. Among the Dakota, Montana, and other Indians, the work of the government is a 
mixed one. It not only educates, but to some extent feeds, clothes, and issues annui- 
ties. But with the Alaskans there are no treaties or annuities needed. It is purely 
and solely an educational work, and as such more properly comes under that branch 
of the government. 

'2d. There will be fewer complications and greater freedom of execution under the 
Educational than the Indian liureau. 



22 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 



Again, if good scliools can be established among those natives before the advent of 
many whites, they will be better prepared to resist the temptations of whisky that 
come into frontier countries with the first traders. 

In 1870 Congress appropriated |50,000 for education in Alaska, but on account of 
doubts as to authority to administer, it was never used for that purpose. See Annual 
Report of Board of ludian Commissioners for 1872, pages 132, 134 (which is also copied 
into this report). We now ask that a similar sum be reapproj)riated. 

Further, the appropriation asked for is but a small portion of the revenue of that 
section, and surelj- it is not an unreasonable request that a portion of the revenue of 
that country should be used by the government in advancing their civilization and 
comfort. 

Perhaps the following form Avould meet all the requirements of the case. 

I'or the prevention of future wars, for the honor of our nation, for the cause of 
humanity, for the elevating influence of the Gospel that will follow government 
schools, I would ask you to use your high position and great infliience in pushing the 
following or some similar bill through the Senate. 

"With great respect, I remain, verv truly, yours, 

SHELDON JACKSON. 

Hon. James E. Bailey, 

Chairman of Senate Committee on Education and Labor. 

A copy of the memoraudum furnished the Hon. James E. Bailey was 
also sent to the Hon. A. E. Burnside, in response to the following letter : 

Senate Chamber, Washington, March 16, 1880. 
Dear Sir: Will you kindly send me any pamphlets or circular you may have 
published touching the condition of affairs in Alaska. I am interested in having a 
system of education established there. 
Very truly yours. 

A. E. BURNSIDE, 
United States Senator. 
Dr. Sheldon Jackson 

Superintendent, <Jc. 



Population of Alaska, from report of Ivan Pefroff, special agent of the Tenth Census. 





Whites. 


Creoles. 


Aleuts. 




Settlements. 


6 
1 


g 


3 


1 


1 


6 
"a 

i 


Totals. 


Attoo . 


1 

2 
2 
14 
1 
1 
3 
1 
2 







15 

6 

4 

80 

13 


17 

8 
4 
82 
17 


39 

106 

59 

126 

12 

31 

45 

65 

33 

25 

8 


35 
114 
58 
104 
19 
42 
49 
68 
30 
29 
11 


107 




236 




127 




406 




62 




74 






1 
3 


3 
3 


101 


Borka 


140 
65 










55 










19 














28 




122 


134 


549 


559 


1,392 





9 


2 


39 


50 


82 
22 
41 
8 
46 


86 
21 
36 
13 
55 


268 




43 




2 
1 
15 




12 


9 


100 




22 







30 
26 


39 
18 


185 




44 




7 




■ 




7 
















34 


2 


107 


116 


199 


211 


669 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

Population of Alaska, from report of Ivan Petroff, ^c. — Continned. 



23 





Whites. 


Aleuts. 




Settlements. 


CO 

a 


i 


i 


i 
1 


Total. 


Prybilov grouD : 

Saint ]PanI 


13 

4 


1 


128 
35 


156 
53 


298 




92 








17 


1 


163 


209 


30O 





Whites. 


Creoles. 


Kodiak In- 
nuits. 




Villages. 


1 


1 


1^ 


i 


1 




Total. 




19 
2 


1 


124 
24 
40 
20 

104 


129 
32 
38 
25 
91 


6 

54 


9 
45 


288 




157 




78 












45 








76 

20 

17 

36 

139 

66 

48 

67 

109 

123 


68 
21 
15 
40 

138 
48 
49 
64 
87 

138 


339 








41 












32 












76 


Karluk 






12 


12 


301 








114 








2 
8 
13 
10 
10 
1 


2 
6 

10 
7 

12 


101 




1 




141 




219 








278 








22 








19 

12 
10 
94 
20 
22 


10 
13 

8 
87 
17 
18 


30 








25 


Kuynkak 










18 








19 


18 


218 


Kukak 






37 








2 


4 


46 












22 


1 


384 


386 


838 


875 


2,006 





"Whites. 


Creoles. 


Kodiak In- 
nuits. 


Kenaitze. 




Villages. 


3 


i 
a 


i 


(0 

i 






1 
1 




Total. 


Alexandrovak. 


1 

2 




4 
1 


4 

2 


13 

38 


17 
30 






39 


Seldovla 






73 


Laida. 


40 


38 


78 


NlnOtchik 






16 


14 






30 


Kassilov 










30 

7 

38 


29 

8 

30 

'"52 

31 

116 

68 

13 


59 


Chinila 















15 


Chkituk 






2 
1 


3 

7 






78 




2 








10 


Skilakh 






48 
37 
138 
78 
12 


100 


Nikishka 














68 


Kinnik 


2 












256 


Sushetno 












146 


Toyonok 


2 




3 


7 






37 












9 




27 


37 


51 


47 


428 


385 


984 



24 



EDUCATION IN ALA.SKA, 



Population of Bristol Bay District. 





Whites. 


Creoles. 


Bristol Bay 
Innuits. 


Togiak In- 
nuits. 


Aleuts. 




Villages. 


1 




i 
1 


£1 
1 

a 


Is 


g 
o 




1 

cS 

a 


<0 


1 


Total. 










90 

101 

56 


72 
91 
62 










162 


Pail o-wik (2 villages) i 















192 


















118 














130 
20 
22 


115 
17 
18 


245 


















37 
















40 








14 
68 
25 
29 
51 
57 
42 
48 
76 
54 
35 
27 
50 
92 
45 
27 
39 
35 
37 
7 


15 
51 
26 
20 
40 
55 
49 
39 
66 
50 
37 
25 
41 
88 
38 
24 
35 
30 
31 
9 






29 












1 


119 


Chikak - 










i 


51 














49 














91 


Ekuk 












112 


Nusliegak , 1 i 


50 


36 


j 






178 












87 
















142 
















104 
















72 




1 












5' 




i 












91 




j 












180 




[ 












83 




1 












51 




1 












74 




1 












65 


Ooallikh ' 


1 












68 






1 


3 






2 




22 






131 
101 

71 
299 
108 

96 
109 


145 
91 
66 

316 


276 




i 




1 






192 














137 




1 










615 












103 

85 






211 
















181 












105 






214 


Total 




' "" 1 


1 










li 


51 


39 


l,105l 994 


915 


911 


174 


150 


4,340 



Population of KusTcohvim Division. 








Settlements. 




l-l 


6 


Total. 




48 

162 

18 

21 

120 

83 

40 

24 

40 

71 

94 

9 

58 

8 

162 

193 

52 

81 

98 

196 

41 

29 

215 

75 

232 

30 

175 

150 

314 






48 








162 








18 








21 








120 








83 








40 








24 








40 








71 








94 


Kik-kliAvigagamute 






9 


Shovenagamute 






58 








8 








162 


IN^aghaikhlawigamute 






193 


Taiihiaratzorianiute . .. • . ... 






52 


Lomawigamute 


:::::::::::::: 


81 






98 
196 
41 


Napaskiagamute 






Mnmtrekiilagamute village 






Mumtrekhlagamute station 






29 


Kooigamute ■. 






215 


Kuli-khlugamute . ... 






75 


Kik-khtagamute 






232 


Paimute 






30 


Akkiagamute 






175 
150 


Tuluksak 






Kwigalosamnte 


::::::::i:;:::;:.i zu 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 



25 



Population of KuskoJcvim Division — Continued. 



Settlements. 



A single house 

Tookhlagamute « . ., 

A single house 

Ooeowigamute 

Kaltkhagamute 

Okhogamute 

Toolooka-anahamute 

Kokhlokhtokhpagamute . 
Kolmakovsky Redoute. . . 

Roaming Koltchanes 

Napaimute 

Village at headwaters — 






10 

92 

10 

206 

106 

127 

59 

51 

5 



3,505 



Total. 



10 

92 

10 

206 

106 

127 

59 

51 

9 

35 

60 

50 



3,654 



Population of Yukon Delta and coast extending to tight hank of Lower Kuskokvim. 



Pikmiktalik ; 

Pastoliakh 

Kigikhtawik 

Kotlik 

Fetkina Barabara 

Village, name unknown - 

Ingeehuk ,. 

Kashutuk 

Chefokhlagamute, three villages.. 

Chefokhlagamute 

Chefokhlagamute 

Igiagagamute 

Askinak 

Kashunok 

Kaialigamute 

Ookagamute 

Oonakagomute 

Tauunak 



Innuits. 
10 
80 
20 



30 

6 

8 

18 

15 

5 

6 

10 

175 

125 

100 

25 

20 

8 



Kaliookhlogamute . 
Kashigalagamute . . 
Nulakhtolagamute . 
Agiukchugamute . . 
Chichiuagamute . . . 

Chalitmute 

Anogogmute 



Innuits. 
30 
10 
25 
35 
6 
60 
75 



Kongiganagamute 175 

Koolwagawigamute 

Kinagamute 

Village, name unknown , 

Kwigathlogamute 

Nunochogmute 

Nauwogalokhlagamute 

Villages on Big Lake 

Yukon Delta, between Pastolik and 

Cape Romantzov 

Small iilaces in interior 



10 
60 
15 

30 

40 

100 

166 

300 
200 



Total 2,006 

Population of Yukon or KvikhpaJc Innuits from Vphoon Mouth to Anwik. 



Settlements. 


( 

4 

'B 

a 


■1 

5 


: ; j Whites. 


Total. 


Komaio V Odinotchka 

Alexeiev (Odinotchka 


1 12 

j 15 


1 
1 


13 
16 


Eliseiev's Barabara 


1 20 

i 40 


20 


Chatinakh 






40 


Andreievsky Redoute 


1 12 

90 


2 


1 


15 
90 


Razboinikskaia village 


151 
102 






151 








102 




63 






63 




I 10 






10 


Staraia Selenie 


55 






55 


Ikogmute 


' 143 


5 
1 


i' 


148 


John's Station 


35 


37 




40 


40 




121 






121 




1 9 






9 




1 89 






89 




30 






30 


Isnokhatskamute 


175 
1 121 






17* 


Makeymute 






121 








Total 


1 1 3M3 


10 


2 


1 346 







S. Ex. 30- 



26 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

NOKTOX SOUND. 

Oonalakleet _ 100 

Igawilv 6 

Tup-liamikwa 10 

Shaktolik 60 

Oouadhtolik 15 

Head of Norton Bay (scattered.) 20 

Ogowiuanagak 20 

Kwikli' ^ 30 

Nubviaklichugalnk 'SO 

At-unk 20 

Iguitnk 100 

Chiookuk 15 

Tup-ka-ak 15 

Okpiktolik 12 

Imoklitegoklisbuk 30 

Chitnashnak 20 

Ayac'lieruk 60 

Oo-imiaklitagowik 10 

Small village opposite Sledge Island 10 

Aziak (Sledge Island) 50 

Total 633 

The number of Eskimos from King's Island eastward to Point Barrow 
on the Arctic coast has been procured from carefid count and estimates 
of Capt. E. E. Smith, wlio served as ice-pilot on the United States steamer 
Thomas Corwin, during her Arctic cruise last summer. He reports 32 
settlements, as follows : 

Okuvagamnte (King's Island) 100 

Nook (Cape Douglas) 36 

Kaviazaganinte (Lake Imorook) 200 

^Sinioga.mute (Port Clarence) 36 

Oape York 24 

Kingigamnte (Cape Prince of Wales) 400 

lualit (East Diomede Island) 40 

Village opposite ; name unknown 18 

Ta-apkuk (Cape Espenburg) 42 

jKugalukmute 12 

Kougigamute (Buckland River) 90 

■ Selawigamute (Selawik Lake) 100 

Kikiktaganiute (Kotzebue Sound) 200 

Sbesbalegamute (Kotzebue Sound) 100 

Tikizat 75 

An-iyakb 25 

Cape Seijping 50 

Ip-Not 40 

Takirak 276 

Cape Dyer 15 

Cape Lisburne 13 

Point Lay 30 

Otok-kok (Icy Cape) 50 

Kolumatourok 45 

Uoona-agamute 74 

KDotaiowik 55 

iBdaosburagin 29 

Ootiwakb 225 

Eefugelulet 40 

Kokinullit (Point Barrow) 200 

Colville River 50 

In tbe Interior: 

Koo-agamntes 250 

Noatagaiuutes 400 

Killaimutes 150 

Total : 2,990 



EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 
On the Yukon Eiver, 



27 



Settlements. 



"Whites. 



Indians. 



Anvik , 

Single honse , 
Do 



Do 

Novaia 

Single house 

Tunakhotkhaik 

Single house 

Chageluk settlements 

Khatnotoutye 

Kaiakak 



Kaltag 

Nulato - 

Koynkuk River 

Terentief 8 Barabara. 

Big Mountain 

Single house 

Sakatalan 



Tukatat 

Melozikakat 

Mentokakat 

Soonkakat 

Medrednaia 

Nowikakat 

Kozmas Barabara 

Nuklukay et 

Village above ramparts 

Fort Yukon 

Gens de Large 

Tennanah River 

Koltehanes, roving between Yukon or Kuskokoim. 



94 

20 

12 

15 

52 

15 

62 

20 

150 

115 

724 

45 

163 

ir,o 

15 

100 

10 

25 

6 

30 

20 

12 

15 

106 

11 

27 

100 

107 

120 

700 

75 



2,226 



Oil the Yukon Eiver, above the fort of the same name, we know of 
the following people trading ^vith Americans at Fort Eeliance, who may 
be on British soil. 

Indians. 

Charley s people 48 

Foutlin or David's people 106 

Fort Eeliance (one white) , 82 

Total 236 

1— POPULATION. 





3 


O 


"5 


Innnits. 


03 




Divisions. 


i 

o 


i 

•a 

o 
H 


1 


1 i 
li 

3 i 

M i 




m 

f 
1 







Yukon di^•i8ion 


28 


10 




1 






3,339 


633 


2,990 


'2,' 226 
147 


7,000 

2,226 

3,654 

4, .340 

2,606 

984 

669 

1,392 

390 

400 

500 


Interior division 










Kuskokvim division 


2 
1 
23 
9 
36 
28 
IS 






1 




3, 505: 








Bristol Ba V division 


90 

770 
46 
2'^3 
256 


324 

'"iio 

1,108 
372 


i,798 
98 


1,826 



2,099 


Kadiak parish 










15 
813 


Kenai mission 














Belkovskv parish 
















Ooualaslika parisli 








1 










Pribvlov Islands 












' 






Saint Lawrence Island 
(estimated) 












400j 
500] 






Xunivak Island (e.sti- , 
mated) : 































Total west of Prince Will- 
iam Sound 

Estimate of Prince Will- 
iam Sound 

Southeastern Alaska 



145 1.413 2,214 1,896 1,826 2,099! 3,505 3,339 1,533; 2, 990; 3,20124,161 

300' ' ' ' ! ■.:.. 



270 



200 500 
5. 000 5, 517 



Grand total 392, 1,683, 2,214 2,196 1,826, 2,099 3,505, 3,339, 1,533, 2,990, 8,40130,178 



Jt% 



28 EDUCATION IN ALASKA. 

A cojoy of a ^proposed hill. 

A BILL to provido educational advantages lor Alaska. 

Be it enacted hy tin; Senate and House of Jiepresentativi's of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the sum of one hiindred thousaud dollars or so much thereof 
aa may be necessary, be, and hereby is, appropriated from the revenues of Alaska 
in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to be expended by the Commissioner of 
Education, under the direction of the honorable Secretary of the Interior, for the es- 
tablishment of schools at such i^oints in that Territory as may be designated by the 
Secretary. 

All of which, with inclosed map and views, is respectfully submitted^ 
Very truly, yours, Y"i ^niiPfl 

SHELDON JACKSON. 
Hon. John Eaton, 

Commissioner Bureau of Education. 



M,29m9 



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